Broken
by Darkchilde
Summary: Seqel to "Where Are You Christmas?". It was bound to happen sooner or later....[Contains graphic child abuse, so reader discresion is advised]


Disclaimer: Not mine, all Disney's---except for Jamie's family, Catie's family and Lonnie. the lyrics I used in this story at the end is "Breathing" by Lifehouse, one of my newest favorite songs! Sorry that this took me SO LONG to get out--I had writer's block on it, and then I didn't have any time to finish it, and it was one thing after another, but I finally have it finished, and I hope that you like it! And I really hope that it's worth the wait, and the length (This baby is almost 17 pages long!) makes up a little for the amount fo time you had to wait! Anyway, be on the look out for the final three stories of this sequence: "A Mother's Pray", "Gone, But Not Forgotten" and "Everything". Anyway, without further ado...

Broken 

"MAY ALL THE 'QUANTINCE BE FORGOT, MAY ALL THE FLAGS NOT WAVE, MAY...ummm...somethin', somethin, SOMETHIN---and AULD LANG SAL!" A little voice screaming at the top of her voice greeted Catie Roth the morning of New Year's Eve, as she stood on the front porch of Jamie Waite's house. 

The young woman struggled to muffle a giggle, but the laughter refused to be held in check, and bubbled out of her in a flood. She clapped a hand over her mouth, strangled guffaws attempting to escape. Catie swallowed hard, snorting through her nose, and tried to get a hold of herself. It wasn't very polite to knock on someone else's door, while laughing hysterically at what was going on inside. 

However, before Catie could get a handle on her laughter, the door was slung open, and the source of the loud singing was in front of her, long red hair swinging and big brown eyes sparkling. 

"Catie! Hi!" Samantha Desdemona Waite, better known as Sami, crowed, throwing herself out the door and hugging the older girl around the legs. Suddenly, she shrieked and giggled, dancing in place and holding her hands up to Catie. "Cold! Cold! Cold!"

Catie laughed out loud this time, scooping the wiggling child up and holding her on her hip, kissing her lightly on the top of the head. "That's what happens when you come outside without any shoes on."

"Dat's what Jamie says too." Sami mused, her eyes thoughtful. 

"Maybe you'd better listen to Jamie. He's pretty smart--you know, for a guy." Catie laughed, her eyes sparkling as she stepped inside the Waites's home. 

"Yeah, SURE he is..." Crimson Waite muttered, walking into the foyer just in time to hear Catie's comment. "That's just cause you don't live with him."

"You know, it's generally accepted as a bad idea to diss your older brother when he's standing right behind you, can hear every word you're saying, is bigger then you, and has no qualms about throwing your cute little red headed BUTT out into the snow." Jamie Waite's voice filled the room, and Crimson almost winced. 

"Yeah well, it's okay...when you can out RUN said older brother!" Crimson ended with a shriek, taking off a dead sprint, her fire engine red hair sailing out behind her. 

"Come back here you little monster!" Jamie growled playfully, exploding out of the other room and racing across the foyer, flashing a beautiful smile at Catie as he darted past. 

Catie winced when she heard a crash and a shriek, and then laughed. Sami blinked at Catie in confusion, her question written plainly on her little face: What's so funny?

"Hey, I'm not use to Jamie acting like that." Catie laughed at the little girl, shifting her around on her hip. At that moment, Genevieve floated through the doorway, grinning at Catie, her dark eyes glimmering mischievously. 

"Hi Catie. I thought I heard your voice. Jamie's..." 

Another crash cut her off, followed quickly by two simultaneous cries of "OOH, LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

"Chasing his little sister around the house." Catie finished for Jamie's mother, grinning at the suddenly annoyed worried look that danced across the older woman's face. 

"What was that?! And was it expensive?!" Genevieve rolled her eyes at Catie, and pushed through the door, heading toward the source of the sound. 

"Umm...define 'expensive'..." Jamie sheepish voice filled the air, and Catie just barely managed to hold in her laughter, a choking sound emerging from her throat. 

At that moment, the door was pushed open, and Jamie's two remaining younger sisters, Molly and Jazz, walked through the door, Molly cradling the baby doll she had gotten from Christmas carefully. Both girls smiled at Catie when they saw her, and she couldn't help but smile back. 

"My baby's asleep." Molly informed Catie solemnly, her dark brown eyes sober. Catie nodded her head, and let the smile slide off her face. 

"Then we had better not wake her up." 

"Yeah, SAMI." Molly glared at her little sister, and Sami looked up at Catie with big brown eyes as if to say 'I didn't do anything.'

"Did you wake up her baby?" Catie teased the little girl in her arms, leaning forward to press her forehead against the young girl's. 

"Uh huh! I didn't wake the baby up--Jamie did!" Sami blamed her older brother, her eyes round and dark in her face. "Not me! Jamie! Jamie did it!" 

"Jamie did what?" The young man in question asked, wondering into the room at that moment to hear his sister blaming him for something. 

"Jamie, did you wake up Molly's baby?" Catie smirked at her friend, looking over Sami's head and winking at him. 

"Me? Do something like that? I would never!" Jamie gasped in mock horror, clapping his hands over his chest. 

His younger sisters cracked up, and Catie just shook her head, amused by the drastic differences between the Jamie at school and the home-Jamie. If you had asked her three months ago if she thought that Jamie Waite, the school's resident bad boy, would have four little sisters that he absolutely doted on, she would have laughed in your face, then wondered what kind of drugs you were on. 

Now...she just couldn't look at Jamie in the same light. Now, whenever she looked at him, no matter what he was doing, she saw the young man that taught Crimson to play the guitar, and carried Sami on his shoulders, and teased Jazz about running off her dates when she got older, and kept a picture Molly had colored for him on his bedroom wall, and a million other little things. 

Of course, she was the only one that noticed the difference in him--she still heard Val, Tyler and Hank complain about his 'lack of responsibility' from time to time. And none of their friends under the bleachers saw it--the only thing they saw of Jamie was his leather jacket and often times bad attitude. 

"So, what you break?" Catie asked, once the younger girls had calmed down, and Jamie grinned at her sheepishly, running his hand over his hair. 

"Just a lamp." 

"An ugly one to boot." Crimson informed Catie, coming in the room in time to hear her brother's comment. 

"It WAS ugly." Their mother mused, as she walked into the foyer right behind Crimson. "Sam's parents gave it to us when we got married--I always HATED it, but Sam never would let me get rid of it. Heck, I even tried to get the kids to break it, and they never would." 

Catie giggled, rolling her eyes. Genevieve caught her expression and grinned, her eyes sparkling. 

"I don't think she believes me Jamie!" The woman laughed, shaking her head. Her son grinned as well, running his fingers through his hair again. 

"It's true. She asked me and Jazz once if we would mind bumping into the table and knocking it off. Then, when we wouldn't, she tried to bribe us with cookies. Dad caught her at the point, and was real thrilled with her about it, if I remember." Jamie reminisced, making the women in the room laugh. 

"No, he wasn't. Even though HE hated that lamp too." Jazz remembered, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. 

"Oh Lord, yes he did. But his mother had given it to us, so of course he couldn't let anything happen to it." Genevieve shook her head, a dreamy look overcastting her dark eyes. However, she shook it off, turning her attention back to Catie. "Are you coming over tonight, for New Year's?" 

"Yes!" Sami answered for her, wiggling out of Catie's arms and jumping up and down like a redheaded Mexican Jumping bean. "Please? Please please? New Year's Eve is the bestest holiday! Even better then Christmas!" 

"Why is she so excited about New Years?" Catie asked Jamie, blinking in confusion. Jamie chuckled, and shook his head. 

"It's the one night of the year that she gets to stay up past her bedtime. To her that's something to be excited about." Jamie rolled his eyes, still chuckling. 

Catie giggled as well, looking at the excited little girl in amusement. "Sure I'll be here." 

"Oh good--then you can kiss Jamie at midnight!" Jazz piped up and her older brother turned blood red while Catie blushed as well. The younger girls giggled, and Catie could see that even Genevieve was struggling to keep from laughing as well. 

"Yeah, and nothing like that little kiss beneath the mistletoe!" Crimson put in her two cents as well. "We want to see a REAL kiss, with tongue and stuff!" 

"Eeewww...who would want Jamie's tongue in their mouth?" Molly asked, making a face. Crimson didn't say anything, but she simply gave Catie a pointed look, and the black haired girl put her hands up over her face, suddenly understanding what Jamie meant when he complained about his sisters.

"CRIMSON!" Jamie yelled at his sister, his face getting even redder then it had before. Catie could feel her own face burning as well, and she laughed nervously. 

"I'm going home. I'll see you guys later on tonight!" She told them, still blushing furiously. 

"Alright, bye honey. See you tonight." Genevieve WAS laughing now, her eyes sparkling like her son's did when he was getting into trouble. 

"What time?" Catie asked, her face losing some of the heat that had built up inside of it

"Anytime--maybe around five? Four thirty?" 

"Why don't you just not leave? Jamie will MISS you if your gone!" Now, it appeared, Molly had joined in the teasing. 

"That's it--I am going to shove every single one of you in a closet and then lock the door and not let you out--ever." Jamie threatened, and Sami squeaked indignantly. 

"I not DONE anything!" 

"Fine--I'm going to lock YOU THREE in a closet and not let you out. Maybe my closet--I haven't done laundry in a couple of days..." 

"EEEEEEWWWWWW!!!" The older three girls screamed, and as one, raced off in three different directions. 

"That really is inhuman torture Jamie." Catie teased the fuming young man, laughing at his expression. 

"I'm going to wring their necks as soon as I catch them." Jamie swore, his eyes spitting dark fire. He stomped off, leaving Sami, Genevieve and Catie in the room alone. 

"Oh dear--I really ought to stop the girls from teasing their POOR big brother so unmercifully." Genevieve rolled her eyes, a smile pulling at her lips. 

"I know--poor baby." Catie agreed, giggling. "I really should go--tell them I said bye, okay?" 

"No problem. See you tonight." Genevieve agreed, walking out of the room to go finish cleaning up the rest of the ugly lamp, leaving Catie and Sami alone. Catie smiled at the little girl, and waved goodbye. As she turned to leave, however, Sami spoke up. 

"Are you REALLY gonna kiss Jamie at midnight?" She asked, running forward and wrapping her arms around Catie's legs. 

"Ummm...I don't know. Maybe. If he wants me too." Catie could feel her cheeks glowing red for the second time that night. 

Sami beamed up at her, her eyes sparkling. "Don't worry, him does. Bye!"  


"Wait a minute, what do you mean him does?" Catie called after the little girl, but she had already skipped out of the room, her red hair bouncing. 

The dark haired girl hmphed to herself, reaching back to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. A slightly smiled pulled at her lips as she thought about the young child's words, and steadily grew the more she thought about it. 

Beaming in a very uncharacteristic manner, Catie pulled the door of Jamie's house open and turned her feet toward home, crossing her fingers that her parents would already be gone to the countless parties they were more then likely going to frequent tonight. 

The dark haired girl made her way home slowly, allowing herself to daydream about tonight and the possibility of kissing Jamie tonight as the clock rang in 2001. It made her far more happy then it really ought to, the girl thought to herself, but for a change, she wasn't going to fight it. At least, not tonight. 

After all, it was just one night. 

@-}--}--- 

Her parent's cars were still in the driveway when Catie got home. She silently cursed her luck, considering turning around and heading back to Jamie's house. AS soon as that thought crossed her mind, she cursed herself for being a coward. 

'Your going to go in there, get a shower, get dressed, maybe even eat something, and THEN your going to go back to Jamie's house. Not before. You can do this--they more then likely won't even notice that your their, and you can get ready in peace.' Catie gave herself a mental pep talk, before running her fingers through her hair, steeling her nerves and heading up the driveway. 

She pushed the door open, thank Heaven that it didn't squeak anymore. Jamie had noticed it the one time he had been over her house, and told her how she could stop it from doing that. It made sneaking in and out much easier, Catie had realized, and had jokingly told Jamie so. He had, however, been completely serious when he told her that was the point. 

Catie shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts, and slowly made her way up the stairs. She was half way up them, with a sense of foreboding settled over her. She tried to shake it off, telling herself that it was nothing, she was just jumpy. 

She reached the top of the steps, looked up, and nearly screamed. 

Her father loomed over her, his face half hidden by shadows. She could smell the stink of alcohol rolling off him in waves. Catie's heart began banging in her ears, and twisting in fear. She sent a silent prayer to whomever was listening that he would just let her past, and not...

"Where have you been, you little bitch?" His words slurred together, his face once again twisted in an expression that Catie had come to associate with pure evil. 

"I was...I was..." Catie stuttered, her eyes widening with the fear that always stuck close to her heart and mind whenever she was in this house. 

"You was you was where?! Are you that damn stupid, you don't even know where you were?!" The man snarled, and Catie took a step back, visibly trembling. Her father's hand flashed out, fast then a drunk man really ought to be able to move, and grabbed her arm, twisting it until she thought she heard something snap. He yanked her forward until his liquor saturated breath was on her face, and she bite back the whimper that wanted to break free from her lips. "WELL?!"

"I was...I was at a friend's house!" He twisted her broken arm when she stuttered, and Catie ended her statement with a wail of pain. 

"A FRIEND?! You have a FRIEND?! I don't believe THAT! You're to much of an obnoxious little bitch to have a FRIEND." Mr. Roth laughed in her face, his eyes sparkling with drunken glee. 

"I am...not..." Catie opened her mouth to defend herself from his verbal assault, but the only reward she received for her efforts was a slap across the mouth, knocking her off her feet, so she was only upright thanks to the pressure her father had on her horribly twisted arm. 

"Yes you are!" The man screamed in her face, and Catie cringed and then moaned when he dropped her onto the floor. Mr. Roth, not satisfied with just throwing his only child to the ground, then preceded to kick her in the ribs, until he felt bone break under his brutal attack. 

Catie struggled to hold in her screams of agony--she knew from experience that that would only make it worse for her. 

"Say it you little bitch! Say 'I'm an obnoxious little bitch!'!" Her father taunted her, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back so that she was looking in his face. 

"I'm...an...ob...noxsiou...s...li'l...bitch..." Catie choked out, blood running down her chin and staining her teeth. 

The man grinned at her then, lifting her off the ground and onto her feet by her hair. She screamed, then, the agony to much for her to bare. She saw her father's eyes flair with angry, and she tried to hold the scream that was bubbling at the back of her throat back. But the twisting of his hands in her hair, ripping handfuls of it out, was to much, and she opened her mouth to cry out again. 

She was never given the chance. With drunken strength, her father reared back, and threw her limp body away from him. 

He forgot--or, more likely, didn't care--that they were standing at the top of the stairs. 

Catie's small body flew down the staircase, landing about halfway down them, and she rolled the rest of the way, hitting the hard floor with a thump. She lay, face down, rapidly losing consciousness. 

Her last thought was of Jamie's dark brown eyes, and the way they always sparkled and shone when he was around his family. 

@-}--}---

"It's six o'clock. What time did you tell her to come over mom?" Jamie asked Genevieve, peering out the window for the tenth time in the last three minutes. 

"I told you--four thirty or five. Maybe she's just running late." His mother shook her head at her son, slightly amused by his antics.

"Mom...are you SURE? I mean, it's not like Catie to be late, especially over here. Hell, she's normally over here before I'm up!" Jamie was worried that much was certain. 

"Watch your language." Genevieve reprimanded him, and he winced. 

"Sorry." Jamie apologized, even though his mind was a million miles away. "I'm going over to check on her. Something's wrong." 

"JAMIE! I think your just being paranoid." His mother laughed, rolling her eyes. 

"Mom--I'm not kidding!" Jamie growled, and his mother's laughter died in her throat. She stared at her son for a long second, her lips pulling into a frown. 

"You really think something happened to her don't you? You think her parents..." Genevieve trailed off, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. Mentally, she kicked herself for forgetting what kind of home Catie came from, for even an instant. "Go. NOW."

Jamie was already running to this bike before her words died away. 

Swinging his leg over the bike, he started it, not even bothering with his helmet. He peeled out of the driveway, sending some loose gravel flying as he tore through the streets, intent on getting to Catie's house as quickly as he could. However, he couldn't push his bike as fast as he wanted to go, and the seconds crawled by like hours as he drove faster then he had in a long, long time. 

It normally took him somewhere around eight minutes to get to Catie's house on his bike. Today he reached in in a little over three. 

Shutting the engine down, he noted that Catie's parents cars were gone, and he crossed his fingers, hoping that she was just running late, and that she was inside now, looking at the window and laughing at the worried expression on his face. 

However, a mental image of her bleeding and broken on the floor refused to leave his mind, and he raced up to the door, his long legs eating up the space between him and his best friend like acid eats through wood. He ripped the door open, not even bothering to knock, and raced inside, leaving the wooden door banging in the wind. 

"Catie!?" He called into the inhumanly still house. "Catie, where are you!?" 

'Please let her be in the shower, or asleep, or at Val's, please please please...' 

"Catie!?" Jamie screamed again, moving into the hallway way where the stairs up to the second floor were. "Catie...CATIE!!" 

It was worse then anything he had ever seen before in his life. 

Catie, his Catie, lay on her stomach a few feet away from the stairs, blood staining the carpet around her head, making it look like she was surrounded by a bright red halo. Her arm was twisted at an impossible angle, and Jamie could see the bruises on her face. Her eyes were shut, and a dark purple bruise kept the one he could see swollen shut. 

He stood there, shell shocked, for an instant more, before his EMT training kicked in, and he leapt forward, dropping to his knees beside her, his fingers going automatically to her neck to search for a pulse. Her soft skin slid gently across his rough fingers, and he felt, to his relief, a light, to light, thump thump against his fingertips. 

She was breathing, he could tell now that he was this close to her, but her eyes were still closed, and their was blood clotted in her hair. He felt sick to his stomach. 

"Catie..." He whispered to her, trying to wake her up. She didn't move, and Jamie's heart lurched. "Oh Catie..." 

For a second, he just stared at her beaten form, hating himself and her parents and the rest of the world for letting this beautiful girl be hurt to the point that she was now. He reached out to touch her hair gently, pushing a lock of it away from her face, and had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill over. Now was not the time to cry--he had to focus solely on Catie right now. 

"I'll be right back." He whispered to her unconscious form, before moving to the phone that he saw resting on the small table under a mirror a few feet away from where Catie was laying. Scooping up the phone he punched in 911. 

"Hello, what's your emergency?" A female voice asked on the other end. 

"My friend's unconscious--it looks like she was either thrown or fell down a flight of steps. She also bleeding from somewhere on her head, I don't know where. I...I don't know how long she's been like this. Hurry, please." Jamie barked at the woman.

"Where are you?" 

"2200 Maple Street--it's a white two story house. Hurry!" Jamie pleaded with the woman again, before hanging up the phone and heading back to Catie. 

He was afraid to move her--he didn't know if she has sustained any spinal injuries from her fall, so he sat beside her, holding her hand and whispering whatever came to mind. Thankfully, the wail of sirens soon filled his ears, and he let go of her hand, running to the door to let the paramedics in. 

Silently, he thanked God that the squad was off today. He didn't think that Val could handle seeing her best friend in such a state--and he didn't want to have to explain what had happened to her either. 

The two men that came to the door were professionals--paramedics, a younger one with light blonde hair and blue eyes and a more seasoned one with dark eyes and hair with a goatee. Jamie let them in, swallowing hard as they knelt down to examine his best friend with their cold, almost completely uncaring eyes. 

"Looks like she sustained some head trauma. Possible internal bleeding and back injury. Get a backboard and a collar from the ambulance." The dark haired man informed the younger one, studying Catie calmly. 

Jamie swallowed hard again, running his fingers through his hair. As the younger man left, Jamie looked at the older paramedic, his eyes terrified. 

"Is she going to be alright?" He was surprised at how stricken and broken his voice sounded. 

"She should be--but she's going to be a long time recovering. Are you the one who found her?" The older man asked, eyeing Jamie carefully, before looking back at his patient.

"Uh...yeah." Jamie cleared his throat, running his fingers through his hair, trying to control his trembling knees. Catie was going to be alright, hopefully. 

"Any idea what happened?" The man asked, just as the blonde paramedic came back with the equipment to move Catie. 

"I...I don't know. She was suppose to come over to my house tonight, and when she wasn't there when she said she was going to be, I got worried and came over to check on her--and I..." Jamie trailed off, his eyes locking on Catie's face, the first time he had seen all of it, as the two men lifted her up and laid her back on the board. Her face was pale, and blood was smeared across one cheek, presumably from the fat lip she had sustained, from the fall or from sometime before, he couldn't be sure. But the one thing about her face that shattered his heart, was the terror and pain that was still etched there, even though she was unconscious. "Catie..." 

"Are you her boyfriend?" The blond paramedic asked him, as she was wheeled out of the house and toward the ambulance, Jamie hurrying behind her. 

So intent was the dark haired young man, that he didn't hear the question properly, and answered with a mumbled "Yeah..." his eyes still locked on the young woman's face. 

Slowly, the two men loaded Catie into the back of the ambulance, and shut the doors. Jamie swallowed hard, watching at they hurried around the back, and climbed into the front, the white and red vehicle taking off with the squeal of tires and flashing red and white lights. He stood stock still for a long second, watching the ambulance roar out of sight, his heart hammering in his chest. 

Catie. His Catie, was in the back of that screaming emergency help vehicle, broken and hurt and unconscious and...he couldn't even began to imagine. His heart clenched like a fist in his chest, and he pressed his hand against it, as if trying to will the organ to release. Catie. Catie. Catie. 

Her name chanted in his brain like the thumping of a heartbeat, the image of her battered form rising in his mind's eye and burning itself into his retinas. As long as he lived, he was never going to forget her laying there, on her stomach, blood pooling around her like water spilled from a bucket. 

Catie. Catie. Catie. 

Somehow, he never would know, somehow he managed to make it to the hospital alive. He raced across the parking lot, the soles of his boots slapping against the concrete and his long legs eating up the distance between him and Catie. 

He hit the glass double doors that separated the cold, white sterile rooms from the rest of the world, his boots squeaking on the shiny tile. His heartbeat banged in his ears and he pushed his way toward the receptionists desk, his breathing fast and labored, and not from the run from the parking lot to the blindingly white room where he now stood. 

Jamie skidded to a stop in front of fake marble desk, steadying himself by placing his palms on the table. The receptionist was an older, friendly looking African-American woman, dressed in the light colored scrubs that everyone, no matter what their position in the hierarchy of the hospital was, seemed to wear. She was turned, with her back to him, typing on a computer, her fingernails making a click clack sound on the keyboard. The young man took a deep shuddering breathe, and was about to call out to the woman, when she spun around in her swivel chair and smiled at him, a beautiful smile with lots of bright white teeth. 

"What can I do for you?" She asked cheerfully, reaching for a manila folder that rested on a stack of papers. The woman, whose nametag read 'Lonnie', looked at him a second time, and then blinked. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" 

Jamie ignored her second question, trying to focus his thoughts enough to make his mouth work well enough to ask about Catie. He took another breath, and curled his hands around the edge of the fo-marble top, gripping so tightly that his knuckles turned white. 

"My friend--she was brought in just a little while ago...Catie Roth? Is there...I mean, can you find out..." Jamie trailed off helpless, fighting the lump in his throat. Lonnie, noting his distress, bit her lower lip, and turned back to her computer, pressing a few keys. Jamie watched the screen change, and then beep. Lonnie scanned it for a few seconds, then twirled back around to face him. 

"Your friend's still in surgery right now." 

"Surgery?" Jamie whispered, the words shattering his heart like a sledgehammer to a china plate. 

"Yeah. She had some severe internal bleeding that they had to fix, due to her broken ribs. She was in a bad way when they brought her in. That's all I know right now, and I can't release any information to anyone but her family.. " Lonnie explained, reaching up to brush a lock of hair out of her face. With each word she said, the blood seemed to drain even more out of Jamie's face, turning his naturally pale complexion almost translucent.

"Her family's the reason that's she's here." Jamie whispered, his entire body shaking like a leaf.

Lonnie blinked, and lifted her eyebrows. "Abuse? Thought that might be the case." At Jamie's surprised look, the cocoa-skinned woman let a small, sad smile touch her lips. "When you've seen as much of it as I have, you learn to recognize the signs." 

The young man nodded, lifting his hand to his eyes, covering them from sight. For a moment, Lonnie thought he was crying, and she reached for the tissues that she always kept close at hand. However, Jamie dropped his hand, and looked her dead in the eye. 

Lonnie Truman had been working in the Kingsport City Hospital for nearly fifteen years. She was pretty much convinced that she had seen everything--unfortunately, it all seemed to blur and run together, as she dealt with all manner of people in pain and mourning. There were very few people that she could pick out and remember, accept those that were here often. 

However, for five years now, a single image had been imprinted in her mind, and she knew that, no matter how long she lived, or how much she saw, she would never ever forget it. The picture of a little boy, twelve maybe, whose father had just died. He was with his mother, a woman's whose face she couldn't recall. In fact, she couldn't remember the little boy all that clearly--except for his eyes. Beautiful, amazingly dark brown eyes, with the hint of what could have been starlight burning in them, dripping with tears and framed by long lashes, tiny droplets of water clinging to them. Those heartbreaking eyes had been painted on her heart for years--and tonight, she found herself looking into them again.

"If you wait over there, I'll let you know how she is."

Jamie swallowed hard, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair, nodding his thanks, because he didn't think he could speak. He slowly turned away from the desk, stumbling over his own feet as he did so, and headed toward the waiting area. 

He didn't bother with a chair, just sinking to the floor, and pulling his knees up to his chin. The tears came then, spilling down his cheeks like a waterfall. He buried his face in his legs, wishing that this was all just a nightmare that he would wake up from soon. 

This couldn't be happening. Not now, not to Catie. Catie didn't deserve this--Catie, who had never done anything intentionally malicious to anyone in her life, who was beautiful and smart and fiery and spirited and kind and loving--she didn't deserve this. Why did this have to happen now? Why Catie? Why?

The questions swirled within his mind like a maelstrom, and Jamie banged his head against the cold cement that made of up the walls of the hospital. The irony of the situation was not lost on him--hadn't he sat right here, a little over two months prior, hating himself for the part he played in Kenny's accident? 

However, this time, it was a thousand fold worse. This time, it was someone that he held closer to his heart then anyone, someone that knew him better then he knew himself, someone that understood--some that he loved. His "wife", his best friend--his Catie. 

"Oh God, Catie..." He whispered to thin air, not caring if anyone around him thought he was insane. "I'm so sorry...I'm so stupid...I should have..." His sobs cut off his whispered words, his body trembling so hard he thought he be torn in half. 

A small, warm body was suddenly pushed up against his right side, and on his left, a long arm was wrapped around his shoulder and pulled his face into a comforting shoulder. A familiar perfume invaded his nose, Jamie leaned against his mother, sobbing heartbrokenly. 

@-}--}---

"So, how did you know that I was here?" Jamie asked his mother, about an hour later after he had calmed down. He was now sitting in one of the chairs that were scattered around the waiting room, Sami curled in his lap, holding on tightly to the lapels of his jacket. His chin rested on the top of her head, the scent of her baby shampoo filling his nose. 

"James Romeo Waite, I am your mother. I have known where you are every second of your life since you were conceived." Genevieve told him, her dark eyes twinkling. Crimson, sitting beside her brother, her head resting lightly on his shoulder, sat up straight and peered around her mother, her dark eyes interested. 

"Really?"

"No, not really." Her mother shook her head, rolling her own dark eyes at the little girl, and smiled. Jazz, sitting on the other side of her mother with Molly in her lap, laughed at her younger sister, but then turned her attention back to the little red haired girl who was sniffling into her doll baby quietly. 

Jamie blinked when he noticed the tears on Molly's face, and then turned his gaze to Jazz. Her eyes and nose were both red, and every so often she would blink rapidly like she was trying to keep from crying. Crimson, next to him, was currently trying to muffle sobs, and even his mother would occasionally wipe at her face with a Kleenex. He looked down at Sami, and saw that she was crying as well, her tears leaving two wet places on his shirt. 

Jamie wanted to smack himself at that moment--he's been so wrapped up in his own feelings, that he hadn't noticed how torn up his family was over what had happened to Catie. He hugged Sami tighter, laying his cheek against her hair and rocking her back and forth, rubbing her back. 

But before he could do anything else, Crimson smacked him upside the head, making him turn to face her with annoyed eyes. 

"What?" 

"Don't you do it." Crimson ordered, her eyes spitting dark fire like his did when he was angry. 

"Do what?" Jamie groaned, reaching up to rube the back of his head. Sami peered over his arm at her older sister, her eyes dark and curious. 

"Push away your feelings, so that you can try and take care of us. Yeah, we all love Catie, but not as much as you do, and your the one that found her. This is killing you a lot more then anyone else, and if you try to force down and hide it, like you did with Dad, it'll do the same thing again---eat you alive, just like a cancer. Your just getting over that NOW, and it's been five years. If you do it to yourself again, there's no telling how long it could last." Crimson finished her tirade standing in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest, and her lower lip trembling and her eyes luminous with tears. 

Jamie opened his mouth to say something, when Lonnie suddenly came into view, holding a clipboard and smiling slightly. He jumped up from his seat, shifting Sami around automatically, and stepped around his still slightly fuming sister to move toward the woman. 

"Is she..." Jamie trailed off, clutching Sami like she would her teddy bear.

"She's in ICU right now, but her doctor says that it's just a precaution." Lonnie started out, smiling at the relief that flooded Jamie's face. 

"Can I see her?" He begged, setting Sami on her feet. 

Lonnie bit her bottom lip, but she couldn't say no to those eyes, and nodded. "Yes, but only for a little bit. She's still weak. So try not to excite her!" 

Jamie nodded, and started down the hallway. Lonnie shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. "She's in room 143!" The woman called the retreating back of Jamie Waite. She turned around again, a smile pulling at her lips, and came face to face with the second pair of unforgettable eyes she had encountered tonight. She smiled at the owner, and Genevieve Waite smiled back. 

"He's crazy about that little girl, isn't he?" Lonnie asked Jamie's mother, smiling. 

"Oh yes. It is nice to see you again, Lonnie." Genevieve greeted the woman with a small smile. 

"You too, Genevieve." Lonnie smiled, her teeth white in her face. The red haired woman's face suddenly turned serious, and she searched Lonnie with her dark eyes. 

"Tell me Lonnie, how would a person go about getting guardianship of an abused child?" 

@-}--}---

Jamie stood outside of Catie's room, his heart banging against his ribcage so hard he was afraid he was going to break one of them. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself, and pushed the door open, stepping into the dimly lit room. 

Catie was propped up on some pillows, her eyes closed, and her face covered with bruises. He could see the top of her bandages peeking out from under her paper thin hospital gown, her black hair curling slightly over the blue cloth. Her chest rose and steadily, and an IV was attached to her arm. Her skin was milk white, even though her lip was split. 

"Oh Catie..." Jamie whispered, moving to sit down next to his best friend, reaching out to take her small hand in both of his. He squeezed it gently, then lifted it to his lips, kissing it lightly. "Oh Catie...I'm not going to let this happen to you again. I swear...I'm gonna protect you...if it's the last thing I do, I swear this is never going to happen to you again." 

To his surprise, Catie's limp fingers squeezed his fingers as soon as he finished his vow, and he looked up into her face, surprised to see her wide hazel eyes looking at him. A soft, half smile played on her lips. 

"I know you will." She could barely force the words out past her throat, and Jamie almost winced at the sound of her voice. "I know you will." 

"Catie...are you okay?" Jamie whispered, lifting her hand to his lips again, pressing a kiss to the tip of her fingers. "You need to sleep." 

"I'm okay. Really, I'm not that sleepy." Catie was lying, and they both knew it. A heavy silence hung around them for an instant, before she broken the silence, her hazel eyes getting heavy. "Jamie?"

"Yeah?" Jamie asked, looking up into her face and noticing that she was about to fall back asleep. 

"Will you sing to me?" 

"What?" Jamie asked, surprised. 

"Will you sing to me?" Catie repeated, opening her eyes and looking at him with slightly pleading eyes. 

"Umm...sure....why?" Jamie asked. As far as he knew, Catie had never heard him sing before. 

"I heard you....the other night. You were putting Sami to bed, and you sang to her...it was so...beautiful." Catie whispered, her voice still rough. Jamie kissed her fingers again, letting a small smile touch his lips. 

"Okay." Jamie thought for a second, before tightening his grip on her hand slightly. Catie smiled softly, and settled back against the pillow, her eyes never leaving Jamie's face. Very softly, he began to sing. 

__

Cause I am hanging on every word you're saying   
Even if you don't wanna speak tonight   
That's alright, alright with me   
Cause I want nothing more than to sit outside heaven's door   
And listen to you breathing   
Its where I wanna be, yeah   
Where I wanna be   


Catie's eyes slipped shut at the final word, a small smile on her lips. Jamie let a matching smile touch his lip, just as his eyes fell on a clock resting beside Catie's bed. The glowing red digits declared it to be twelve oh one. 

His eyes darted back to Catie, and he slowly leaned forward. Slowly, so as not to wake her up, he pressed a soft, gentle kiss to her lips, holding for just a few seconds. When he pulled back, Catie sighed softly, turning her head toward him in her sleep. Jamie reached up to brush a lock of hair out of her eyes, and sighed as well. 

"Happy new year, Catie." 


End file.
